What is a Volunteer Need?

Volunteer Needs are activities you post for volunteers to join. Before creating a Need, your site must have at least one Agency.

Agencies manage their own volunteer Needs on your site, but Site Managers can also create and manage Needs on their behalf.

Important Formatting Note

Emojis are not supported in email blasts, blog posts, or description fields (e.g., Need description field) on the site.

Using emojis in these areas can:

Break formatting
Cause text to be cut off
Prevent content from saving or publishing correctly

Creating a Need

Create an Agency—Once you've done that, move on to the next step.
Go to Volunteerism > Needs.
On the Manage Needs page, select Add New Need.
Fill in the fields on the Create Need form and click Create Need when finished.

Here are the fields on the Create Need form. They also appear on the Update Need form:

Field	Description
Status	Active: Live on your site; volunteers can view and respond. Pending: Not visible to volunteers; use while preparing the Need. Inactive: No longer visible; volunteers cannot respond or log hours. You can reactivate an inactive Need at any time by switching it back to Active.
Agency	Select the Agency this Need belongs to.
Title	Enter a clear, descriptive title for the Need.
Description	Use this field to share important details, such as: What volunteers will do Your organization’s mission or goals Any expectations or requirements
Cover Image	Add a cover image to personalize the Need.
Interests & Abilities	Select relevant interests and abilities to help volunteers find matching Needs.
Qualifications	Apply any required Qualifications, if applicable.
Designate a Site Supervisor or Contact Person	Assign a point of contact so volunteers know who to reach out to with questions.
Duration	Durations indicate when and how often the Need occurs.
Capacity	Set the maximum number of volunteers needed.
Hours	Enter the expected number of volunteer hours (e.g., 4 or 3.5 hours).
Hours Description	Specify the volunteer time frame (e.g., 9:00 AM–5:00 PM).
Virtual Need	Yes: Can be completed remotely No: In-person only
Allow Team Registration	Yes: Volunteers may respond as a team No: Individual responses only Teams-only: Volunteers must create a team to respond Note: Teams-only prevents individual sign-ups.
Address fields	Enter the physical location where the Need takes place.

Duration Types

Here are the different Duration Types for Needs:

Duration Type	Description
Is Ongoing	Select this duration type if this opportunity is an ongoing Need. e.g., We need help around the office through August 2027.
Runs Until	Select this duration type to indicate a date the Need expires. e.g., We need volunteers to help manage the garden until August 25, 2026.
Happens On	This duration type is great if you have a Need scheduled on a specific date. Notifications for Happens On Needs will display the time for it as follows: 12 am - 11:59 pm. e.g., We need 20 volunteers to stuff back-to-school backpacks on August 1, 2026!
Multi-date	If your Needs run on multiple consecutive days, then this is the duration type to use. e.g., Our Secret Santa Workshop needs some helpers on December 15th - 17th!
Custom Shifts	Select this duration type if you want to set up Needs with shifts that occur on the same day or on different days at different times. e.g., Tutors needed for 2.5-hour shifts at Hopeful Heart Elementary School's Writing Lab on Tuesday, March 5th from 8 am - 3 pm.
Recurring Shifts	This duration type is great if you have Needs with shifts that occur at the same time daily, weekly, or monthly. e.g., Happy Paws and Claws needs Dog Walkers on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 8 am - 12 pm.

Please note that changing the duration of a Need may cause data errors. For example, volunteers may not be able to log hours for those Needs. Instead, we recommend cloning or creating a new Need with that duration type.

Promotions and Sharing

You can share your Needs with companies and organizations that use Volunteer Link. This expands your reach and helps build connections within your community. If you'd like to share a Need through Volunteer Link, you can establish that here when creating it.

Go to Volunteerism > Needs.
Either create a new Need and set it up then, or edit an existing one.
Scroll to the Promotions and Sharing section of the Create Need or Update Need form.
Check the box or boxes beside Promote this opportunity on.

Please note that once you share through Volunteer Link, you may start receiving project requests from companies or organizations using Volunteer Link. This feature is only available to Center clients connecting to organizations through Volunteer Link.

Additional Options

When creating or editing a volunteer Need, there are several additional options you can use to help personalize it.

Go to Volunteerism > Needs.
Either create a new Need and set it up then, or edit an existing one.
Scroll to the Additional Options section of the Create Need or Update Need form.
Be sure to click Create Need or Update Need to save your changes.

Field	Description
Minimum and Maximum Age fields	Enter the minimum and maximum ages permitted for this Need. Note: This does not restrict the Need to volunteers within that age range when they respond to it; it simply informs volunteers of the age restrictions established by the organizer.
Family Friendly?	Check Yes if this is a family-friendly Need, No if it isn't, or leave it N/A.
Outdoors?	Check Yes if this Need happens outdoors. You'll be given the option to include an Inclement Weather Plan when you check Yes. Check No if this Need is indoors, or you can leave it N/A if this doesn't apply.
Wheelchair Accessible	Check Yes if the site of the Need has wheelchair access. Check No if not, or leave N/A if this doesn't apply.
Attributes	Use this field to include additional details about the Need, e.g., Wear clothes you don't mind getting dirty! or Snacks will be provided around 1 pm.
Tags	Tags help categorize Needs. They are not visible or searchable by volunteers. Site Managers can use them for information and sorting.
Clusters	When a cluster is applied to multiple Needs, a unique link is created that only Site Managers can access. This link creates a page where those Needs are grouped for quick and easy sharing. Clusters do not show up for volunteers, so we typically recommend you use them to sort Needs for your information.
Additional Notification Recipient(s)	Toggle this On to add individuals you want to receive notifications about this Need. Enter each email on a separate line in the field below the toggle button. User listed here will receive the same notifications Agency Managers receive about the Agency and any associated Needs; however, they won't receive notifications if they have disabled them from their profile settings.
Comments	Comments are private and only viewable by managers with access to the Need from the backend. Volunteers won't see these comments.
Clickwrap-waiver	Use a clickwrap waiver when you don't need a volunteer's signature to qualify for a volunteer Need. Note: You can only upload a .pdf for a clickwrap waiver.

Please note that volunteers must check the box to agree that they've reviewed the waiver and agree to its terms before they can finish responding to the volunteer Need.

Clickwrap-waivers

Clickwrap-waivers aren't the same thing as Qualification Waivers. When a volunteer responds to a Need with an attached clickwrap-waiver, they're asked to review it and check a box confirming they agree to any terms within it. To attach a Clickwrap-waiver to a Need:

Scroll to the bottom of the Create Need form.
Click Choose File and select the file you wish to upload. You can only upload a .pdf for a clickwrap-waiver.
If you've finished setting up the rest of your Need, go ahead and click Create Need.
If you're adding a Clickwrap-waiver to an existing Need, click Update Need.

Please note that you can only upload a .pdf for a clickwrap-waiver.

Here's the volunteer perspective for interacting with Clickwrap-waivers when responding to a Need:

Center Site Managers: Creating Needs